corn English · revision 6917

+ English has two words spelled corn: grain, inherited from Old English, and the hard patch of skin on the foot, from Latin cornu, horn.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈkɔːn/ ''(UK)''; /ˈkoɹn/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|grain}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 700|origins=gem-pro *kurną}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|corn|t=a seed of grain; grain]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*kurną|t=small seed]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon korn, Dutch [[m|nl|koren]], German [[m|de|Korn]], Old Norse korn and Gothic [[m|got|𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽|tr=kaurn]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from PIE *ǵr̥h₂nóm, from [[ine-pro|*ǵerh₂-|t=to grow old, ripen]], also the source of Latin [[m|la|granum|t=grain]] (see [[grain]]).^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The seed of plants other than cereals, as of a grape or pepper: before 700 in the OED;^(OED 1989) a seed of grain from about 1000.^(OED 1989) Barnhart has berecorn, a grain of barley, about 700.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A small hard particle, as of sand or salt, is from about 888;^(OED 1989) Word Origins notes it could even be used of hail.^(Cresswell 2021) The Old English word meant grain with the seed still in rather than a particular plant, and it came to mean the leading crop of a district:^(Etymonline) wheat in England, oats in Scotland and Ireland,^(Etymonline) and in America, from about 1600, maize, at first ''Indian corn''.^(Etymonline) The verb, to form into grains, is from the 1550s, and to preserve with grains of salt from the 1560s, hence ''corned beef''.^(Etymonline) [[corny|alt=Corny]], trite, developed in the 1930s from a word for music of a rural kind.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 700 – a seed.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 888 – a small particle.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1000 – a grain of cereal.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1550s – to granulate (verb).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1560s – to preserve with salt.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1600 – maize, in America.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(North America)'' [[maize]], or its kernels eaten as a vegetable.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(British)'' The chief cereal crop of a region, such as [[wheat]] or, in Scotland, oats.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A single grain of a cereal.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' Something trite or sentimental.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To preserve meat with salt: ''corned beef''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[corny]]

+ * [[cornflour]]

+ * [[cornflakes]]

+ * [[barleycorn]]

+ * [[popcorn]]

+ * [[peppercorn]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|hard skin on the foot}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1425|origins=la cornu}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English corne, [[bor|fro|corn|t=horn; a corn on the foot]] (Anglo-Norman corn),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) from [[la|cornu|t=horn]] (see [[horn]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from PIE [[ine-pro|*ḱer-|t=horn; head]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A horny thickening of the skin, usually on a toe: probably before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's surgery;^(Barnhart 1988) about 1440 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''To tread on someone's corns'', to hurt their feelings, is from about 1845.^(OED 1989) Compounds such as ''corn-plaster'' and ''corn-cutter'' are from 1767.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1425 – a corn on the foot.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1767 – corn-plaster etc.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1845 – tread on someone's corns.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A small, painful area of hardened, thickened skin on the foot, especially on a toe.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[grain]]

+ * [[kernel]]

+ * [[horn]]

+ * [[cornea]]

+ * [[cornet]]

+ * [[unicorn]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}